Today - another rocket

How crazy!! Nicole and I are sitting in the office, 4th floor, from where we have an excellent view southward when suddenly we heard what sounded like a jet plane and then a distant boom. Looking out the window we saw the smoke plume of another successful rocket interception.
There was no siren warning.
Never a dull moment.

April 9th - Saturday

We had a quiet Shabbat morning but in the afternoon , just before 5 pm and again at 6 .pm there were 2 sirens . Rockets were heading to our city from Gaza and Iron Dome intercepted some of them, not all .

Gily went with a friend from school and her family to the Lunapark in tel Aviv, they wanted the kids to have a peaceful Shabat and invited her too. I was sooo happy she wasn't here .

I took Shir and Ron to Ashdod to do some fun and shopping. We had just left for Ashdod when the first siren caught us just outside Ashkelon on the highway. I stopped the car and the 3 of us hid behind the bus station , not quite sure how effective this was , but this is what you are suppose to do. The second siren we heard while we were in Ashdod talking with my mother-in-law , in Ashkelon, on the phone . 

Nicole was out walking her dogs when she heard the distant siren and the booms. In the fields there is nowhere to hide, so she just watched the Iron Dome shooting the rocket out of the sky, leaving a puff and white smoke trail (see her photos below)

Follow the news in ynetnews.com

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054360,00.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html

Passover vacation started on Friday so no school or kindergarten,  the kids will be home from tomorrow.

Nicole's photos from her walk today:

a very bright day, taking the photo into the sun (At night this would look like fireworks) .Look carefully to see the trail of the rocket after the Iron Dome blasted it into pieces.

Nicole's dog Heidi and the Iron Dome defense system in action in the background

The fields are full of red poppies - Spring!

Friday night in Ashkelon

All afternoon and evening we heard Iron Dome system intercepting rockets , at one point 3 at once .The last one was around 9 pm. We went to sleep and woke up at 4 am to the familiar sound of a siren. This meant Iron Dome missed a rocket going our direction .

We ran under the stairway which is what we can do in 30 seconds and waited. No boom sound was heard . After a couple of minutes we went back upstairs .Gily, ( 9 years old) took her blancket and pillow to sleep in the living room , much closer to the safe area in our house . Ron , 16 was on facebook with all his friends that were all up. 

It was difficult to go back to sleep .In the morning I saw on the news that the siren was a rocket that passed Ashkelon and Ashdod and landed in an open field . Beer Sheva had a successful interception too. Kiryat Gat that doesn't have a system , was target too. Shabat morning, we are hoping for a quiet day.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054207,00.html

Rockets on Ashkelon

Though we all felt very reliefed to hear that Iron Dome sysytem succsessfully intercepted a grad rocket from Gaza, we have many reasons to worry . Ehud Barak said that the system is not a 100% effective, and we need to keep in mind that in order to prevent the rocket from hitting Ashkelon , 2 rockets were launched, they cost 40,000$ each , to stop a 200$ grad ....

 In Kfar Aza though , an anti tank rocket was aimed from Gaza to hit a yellow school bus . Luckily it was the end of its route so there were just the driver and one kid on the bus. The 16 years old kid was severly hurt . 

Shabat shalom , and quiet ...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4053704,00.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054090,00.html

My BBC Radio Interview

Yesterday was a year since the Cast Lead operation . I got a call from BBC London radio a few days ago asking me since they have interviewed me a few times during the war , if I agree to be interviewed in a special program on the 27th Dec . I agreed.

It was me in Ashkelon and a Palestinian woman from Gaza. Both of us were interviewed a year ago during the war. They started by broadcasting a short clip from each of us from last year .She talked about the situation now , and I talked about how we in Ashkelon after the war focused on renovations and programs for the kids enabling them and us to go back to normal life.

I did mention though that over 240 missiles and mortar have fallen since the war ended and last Wednesday 2 kassams fell outside Sderot. She then said Israel blockade causes lack of medications in Gaza . I did my homework ,The Israel project had a good summary of last year with numbers of humanitarian aid to Gaza. I said that we allow medications and equipment to go through, but not things that will be used against us. Knowing they bring into Gaza weapons though the tunnels all the time .

When the reporter asked me what I suggest in order to improve the situation , I said , that I think that the Palestinians , like us , should focus on renovating the social structures and facilities and helping the citizens go back to normal , quiet lives.

When they started the interview saying: “ we have Sigal Ariely from Ashkelon and , (I can’t remember her name) from Gaza “ I suddenly realized how important it was …It was a good feeling, I hope I did well…

Getting ready for school

Last night we got a text message from the parents committee of one of our kids' school that there will be a strike tomorrow in all the schools in Ashkelon , exept 10th to 12th grade students that have final exams coming up soon. Saturday's grad rocket, an improved one, that destroyed a highschool , changed all the rules . If this had happened on a school day the results would have been horrible - it is a true miracle it was a Saturday !

So: The teachers will be at the classes ,schools will be open , but the parents were asked to keep the kids at home.Each parent can decide what to do with his kids ! OK , a dilema , what should I do ? I have 3 kids , each goes to a diffrent school.

My youngest one, in 2nd grade ,goes to a school with even no minimal security .It's very old and the classrooms are unprotected. The kids hide under the tables when there's a siren or next to a northern wall ??? ... I have to go to work so I took her to her afternoon club , that is now open since the morning , and we pay extra. My son's school has sheltered areas, but he is 8th grade , most of his friends are staying at home , so he doesn't want to be alone in the class , he stayed home , a day off ... My oldest goes to the Art school , again old buildings , one shelter for 400 children ! She is on 12th grade , final test are soon. I took her to school ,she must study for the matric tests .

Shlomo Cohen , our deputy mayor ,says the Municipality supports the PTI , and join their demand from the governement to fortify and sheild all the educational institute in Ashkelon . At the same time , he realizes that closing the school paralizes the entire city .

Update

Shrapnel damage to reinforced concrete school walls on Saturday (Pic: Itai Levi - Haaretz)

When Hamas rockets explode, they scatter ballbearings, nails and sharp shards of metal that slice into anything in their way

We just got a message that there will be no school tomorrow , except 10th-12th grade that have final exam coming up soon. The rocket that hit the high school yesterday was an improved one , biggest ever. This is why it penetrated the metal door and walls, broke through the concrete which was relied on to protect students and teachers from an attack. Only the fact that it was Saturday when there was no school, prevented a tragedy.

There are 10 schools , including my youngest daughter's school , and 22 kindergardens that have NO shelters or protected areas. The 50 schools and 120 kindergardens that have partial protection have no protection for these kind of rockets . The rockets are getting bigger, more powerful, with improved aim and longer range.

All the schools in Ashkelon will be closed until the government decides to fortify all the schools . Shlomo Cohen was interviewed on channel 2 tv , said that the governement refuses to take action in protecting the schools therefore he understands the parents' committee's decision. The teachers will be at all the schools , and the parents can decide what to do with the kids ! What a balagan !

Meanwhile another rocket hit Sderot this evening . In all , 7 rockets fired from Gaza, today. Channel 2 TV reported on Thursday that new more powerful longer-range rockets are STILL coming in to Gaza through the tunnels.

Shows a crater where One of the Grad rockets landed, on Saturday (pic: Yonatan Legayev, ynet)

Shabbat rocket - Damage to School

We now have the information about where this morning's rockets fell. One of the rockets fell in an open space in a highly populated residential area (another miraculous escape), but one of them hit a school. On Shabbat morning all the students were at home ... (yet another miracle).

The rocket caused a lot of damage to the school. Classrooms were destroyed. This is one of the schools that has no proper protection or safe shelter - the "safe area' that pupils were supposed to gather in, in case of a rocket attack, was badly hit by many pieces of shrapnel. The rockets are full of ballbearings and sharp shards of metal that slice into anything in their way. You can see the result in the photos below.

Municipality service teams that were on standby because of the stormy weather, are now out on the job, sealing windows of apartments in the area, that were blown out by the blast or hit by shrapnel.

Obviously, the school that was hit will not be open tomorrow (Sunday of course is a regular school day in Israel) and other solutions will be found for the students. At the moment, the order is that the other schools will open, but the situation can change, and a meeting will be held after Shabbat to decide if other schools will open.

We hope that the next hours (and days, and weeks, and months) will be quiet.

(this photo AP on ynet)

Not again !!!

Saturday , 8:45 in the morning... Last night was very stormy , strong winds and thunder. This is why I was sure I was dreaming ..... it must be the wind again when Gily , my 7 year old daughter , opened the bedroom door and screamed : "Mom , quickly , a siren !!!" ... I grabbed her , knowing we don't have time to run outside to the bomb shelter , both of us screaming to Shir , my oldest , who came running from her room. We went to our safe place in the house - under the stairs. Ron , my son, is sleeping at my in-laws house , not far from us. The siren was long , longer than I remembered . Once it stopped we heard 2 loud booms. They definitely hit somewhere near us, in the neighborhood. I called Anat (the municipality spokewoman) , after 10 minutes. She was getting ready to go to the municipality control room. She checked with Shlomo (deputy mayor) too. On information where the rockets fell ,maybe it's good , no one reported anything yet . I'll let you know once I know. I just got a text message from Anat: 2 grad rockets hits in the city both in open spaces in our neighborhood. The municipal war room is re-open till further notice.

Yet Another ceasefire rocket fired on Ashkelon

We didn't really think it's all over , but the reminders are very scary. We were driving back from Sderot around 1 o'clock , coming back from Nihum Avelim (Shiva, mourning condolence call) , our friend lost her mother , and she lives in Sderot . Anat , the municipal spokesperson was in the car with us, she has a bipper that rings whenever there's a siren . We were far from Sderot, no sirens , so all we felt relieved. As we were driving through the industrial southern area her bipper annonced a siren , in the ... southern industrial area!!! We heard nothing (the radio was on , windows closed and we 4 were all talking). As we reached the municipality building poeple said that the siren was heard in the southern neiborhoods and so was the rocket that fell in an open field. Another one fell in the sea . I was happy that the siren wasn't heard all over Ashkelon , so the children didn't hear it , again... I called my "other kids"- the Otzma students. 2 of the girls were out, shopping, they ran in circles because they had no idea where to run. They are all ok. Tomorrow a psychologist is coming to speak with them .

Grad for breakfast

This morning 7:10, a siren woke my kids. Together we all ran for our safe place under the stairs (no time to get out to the bomb shelter in the yard), and then we heard the boom. The grad fell in an open area near the road, not far from where we work .It's incredible how fragile the ceasefire is. My Gily said "You see mom, I told you there would be another grad". Schools are balagan. Some are open , very few kids showed up . Gily's school is closed. I took her to grandmother's for the day. The Arts school is open , in Shir's class 2 students out of 40 came... Ron is at a high school that is relatively new , and it has safe shelter areas, 11 kids showed up out of 35 in his class . Mayor Benny Vaknin said there will be a consultation with Home front command to decide whether the schools will open or not ...

Damage in a bus that was standing near the open area where the grad fell this morning

Ceasefire Shabbat

SHABBAT . First one since the cease-fire . We went to dinner at my mother -in -law's how, like we do every Frtiday night , but not since the war started . Shabat morning the kids went to friends, studied to test , did homework . Just an ordinary weekend. Feels so good to be back to normal stuff. I hope there will be no more war updates for a long time. Just updates, good things . Shavua Tov.

Life resumes, after "Operation Cast Lead"

I guess today is the first day that I and other mothers in Ashkelon feel that life is really back to normal -Elementary schools and kindergarden are back to school this morning. I dropped Gily , my youngest ,2nd grade, at school after more than a month out of school. There was a girl dressed up as a fairy , giving out candies to the kids . There was music and baloons . Gily ran to join her friends , I had tears in my eyes.... The first 2 hours were "Hosen "- resilience program for the kids. When she came back home she said today at school was fun! Tomorrow all the schools will start with 2 hours resilience as well.

After the Cease-fire

2 quiet days, and slowly life is going back to normal. Today 10th - 12th grades are back to school. Tomorrow maybe junior-high pupils will join them. Elementary school children are still at home or in the public shelters, they'll go back to school hopefully by the end of this week. The malls opened most of the stores , though very few people are out shopping. Cinemas are still close. Every plane that flies over our haeds makes you freeze , hard to beleive there won't be a siren sound following it ... Every day I recieve bags full with crayons and coloring books and toys for the Ashkelon kids in the shelters. They make the kids very happy. Thanks for all those who helped collecting them. Eveyone that leaves Baltimore nowdays is bringing one. Yossi and Risa Kelemer, Linda and Michael Elman, Jenny - CSI/Diller .... This morning Dror, from Hava'ad Lema'an Hhahyal - The association for the soldiers, brought another bag and I gave him the cards that kids in Baltimore made for soldiers , he is on his way to visit the soldiers near Gaza and will give them your cards.

Some cease fire ! We had a siren at 13:00. A grad landed in an open field in the city. All the 12th grade students in Israel are taking thier final Composition test today. In the south region they are taking it in shelters .It started at 14;00. At 14:03 there was another siren. I thought about my daughter, and her friends ,trying to do the test, trying to focus on the paper when all this is happening .. .

Saturday night update

Our middle east reality ... On the TV .they were talking about the sease fire. Suddenly we heard , unbelievable- a siren! There was one earlier at 4 o'clock, and it fell in an empty field , so did this one , no one got hurt . 2 rockets fell in Ashdod. Even though there is probably going to be some kind of arrangement tomorrow , the expectation is that the last few hours, tonight and tomorrow won't be quiet . I hope we'll be wrong. I sent Gily, my little one to spend the night with a friend that lives not far from here and has a sheletred room where the girls will spend the night . Ron , my son is spending the night with a friend that has a sheltered room too. In our house tonight there's only me , my husband and Shir, my oldest , who has a final matric national Composition exam tomorrow ... There won't be any schools tomorrow , not even for 11th and 12th grade students, just the test , in bombshelters , tomorow at 14:00 . Good luck to the students .... TO READ ALL SIGAL'S WAR REPORTS CONSECUTIVELY, PRESS ON THE LABEL "Sigal's War Diary" BELOW.

I want to share with you my afternoon..... After almost 3 weeks that my kids were away from Ashkelon with 2 of our families, we had a quiet day on Thursday in Ashkelon , one siren , no rockets falls. It felt like thinkgs are getting quiet. The kids wanted to go back home . I decided that we are going home for the weekend. Shir my oldest took the train at 7 o\clock back to study math at school. Our cousin said he'll bring my son Ron home in the afternoon. I waited till Gily, my youngest came back from school where she stay. She said goodbye to her new classmates , told them we will invited them to Ashkelon soon and we headed south . As I was driving home Shir and Ron - my kids -called to tell me there was a siren , no close booms... After 30 minutes they called to tell me that there was another siren , far boom... I heard on the news it fell in Ashdod. I started to think I should have left Gily with my sister in law, but she really begged me to go back home, she misses her room , toys , friends ....I put my foot on the gas , driving home. The radio was was on 101.5 radio station that plays music and live sirens if there are any... There was a great song on the radio - Oblady oblada life goes on... I was singing loud , Gily was laughing at me, suddenly the music stopped , we hread" Red color- a siren in Ashkelon and the area", I froze , it took a second to get my act together . We were near nothing !!!! 5 minuts way from the north etrance to Ashkelon .I stopped the car on the side, left the keys and my purse in it , grabbed Gily out of the seat belt , and we ran to a ditch near the road . We both bended on the sand ,I was covering her. The siren seemed soooooo long... I hugged her , there were 6-7 other cars lining near us, parents covering their children, older poeple. As the siren ended we heard 2 booms in the near area. We waited a minute and everyone ran back to the cars trying to get as quickly as possible to a safe place. All the way back home Gily was crying in the back seat . I was still shaking while driving. The rockets fell one near the old cemetary , at te north os the city, the second one fell in the northren industrial area , not too far from us. When you are in an open area , feel so helpless , and in the silence around you, it sounded horrible. At home Gily opened 2 Hanuka boxes we got from friends in NY and NJ . They came in Hanuka , but she wasn't home since then... She found a Hannah Montana costum for Purim and some Disney princess dolls and for a few minutes was a 7 years old again... there was another siren an hour later while Gily and I were in the driveway of my friend in a moshav near Ashkelon. I took Gily there to play with my friend's daughter , her age. We parked the car , heard the siren and ran into their house and together ran to the sheltered room . As I'm writing this we hear the sounds of IDF bombing Gaza. We can only pray and hope that tonight will be quiet , Shabat Shalom .

Tuesday started quiet and peaceful. Then we had 2 sirens that nothing fell in the city . We are hoping that this is a good sign . Ok , strange enough as I was writing we just had a siren... We ran one floor down . We heard the boom this time . Not sure where...

Today I had 2 special visitors - Lauren Hurwitz from Baltimore and her friend Elizbeth from Texas. They came to voulnteer with chilkdren in the shelters. We stopped at an old friend of Lauren's and her family. The girls wanted to hear from Roni how does the siren system operate . He explained to us in details.... As we were leaving we heard the familiar sound of the siren... we ran to the sheler , with Roni , Shula his wife and their 2 years old grandson . We stood for a few minutes, the boom sounded far . I found out later that the grad hit directly a 2 floors' family house . The 3 children who were at the 2nd floor ran down to the shelter when they heard the siren, and the 2nd floor was directly hit ! Nothing happened to the kids ! After the siren was over , we went to the shelter at the Teens center where they volunteered with the little kids.

Today , January 11th is a special day for me, My oldest daughter Shir was born 18 years ago. She was born just when the Gulf war started , her first days as a baby were in a protecting plastic tent , anti - gas shelter for babies... Here we are , 18 years later and she celebrates her birthday away from home, from her friends , from her Dad who stayed in Ashkelon all this time and the kids haven't seen him over a week. We had 4 sirens today in Ashkelon , one rocket fell in the sea , one passed us and hit a kindergarden in Ashdod, 2 , around 20:00 landed in open areas in Ashkelon . We were lucky today, no casualties. Our friends in Baltimore are having a day at the JCC to show their love and support in Ashkeoln , and friendship. Thusnads of miles away , but still very close by heart .